Washington is going to proceed to stop two large health-insurer mergers, according to a report.
The Department of Justice is expected to file lawsuits to block Anthem's $48 billion acquisition of rival health insurer Cigna and Aetna's $37 billion deal to buy Humana, according to Bloomberg, which cited an individual familiar with the problem.
Shares of Cigna are down 2.3 % while Humana shares are off 5.2 percent. Anthem is seeing its shares fall 3.1 percent and Aetna's shares are dipping 4.1 percent.
The transformative deals would mean the insurance industry would have three large rivals instead of five.
Earlier this month, President barack obama, writing within the Journal of the Ama, hinted at such a move as he said he's like to see more – not less – competition.
The final decision by the Justice Department could come now and will be made by no more the month, among the people said.
